The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded 100,000 dollars each on Wednesday to scientists in 22 countries including funding for a Japanese proposal to turn mosquitos into “flying syringes” delivering vaccines.

The charitable foundation created by the founder of software giant Microsoft said in a statement that the grants were designed to “explore bold and largely unproven ways to improve global health.”

The grants were awarded for research into preventing or curing infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis and limiting the emergence of drug resistance.

They are the first round of funding for the Gates Foundation’s “Grand Challenges Explorations,” a five-year 100-million-dollar initiative to “promote innovative ideas in global health.”

The funding was directed to projects that “fall outside current scientific paradigms and could lead to significant advances if successful,” the Gates Foundation statement said.